Sciatica ... the forgotten cause

Sciatica can be caused by numerous factors. Most of you are aware of the Piriformis muscle that has the sciatic nerve running through or next to it. If this muscle tightens, sciatica occurs. There are also the disc irritations and joints in the lower back that can all help sciatica to occur. However...

So how do you get rid of your pain? Will learning one new stretch be enough? It very well may be. However depending on the severity of your condition you may need to change your activities of daily living to include new stretches, new exercises that include the use of the hip rotators like roller-blading, basketball, tennis, etc, and even better, specific corrective exercise specific to your situation... like those covered in our video. As always, learn as much as you can about your condition, so that you can ask the tough questions to your healthcare providers and get the best care possible.

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In most sciatica cases you are told to stretch to ease muscle tension. You are told that it is a disc and you may need surgery or at least a long rehabilitation. Yet more than 87% of all sciatica cases have this joint involved. The joint is...

Article courtesy of http://www.losethebackpain.com. Get the facts on sciatic nerve pain that your not getting from your doctor... free access to back pain articles, information, and research.

Before we look at a few exercises for sciatica it is important to understand what sciatica is. Often misused and not clearly defined, sciatica is not a diagnosis in itself but in actuality sciatica is a set of symptoms being caused by another medical issue, most often a slipped or herniated disk. The term sciatica refers to the pain caused when one ore more of the nerves exiting the lower spine are being compressed or irritated. These nerves exiting the lower spines make up the sciatic nerve. A herniated or slipped disk is not the only medical condition that can cause sciatica but it is the most common.

Did you go see your primary care physician and get diagnosis of Sciatica only to have them refer you to an orthopedic specialist and than get a diagnosis of Piriformis Syndrome... and than be told to see a Physical Therapist and the PT tells you a little heat, ultra sound, electrical stimulation and some therapeutic exercises and we will have you good as new???

Sciatica pain is something you won't want to live with for an extended length of time. Effective treatment is available now that will ease your sciatica pain sooner than you might think.

The most common joint to cause sciatica is seldom listed. The joint that allows sciatica to become chronic because it is rarely corrected. The joint you use in almost every activity, whether you bend, lift, twist or even turn over in bed. This joint has no disc and hence can become inflamed and cause back pain and sciatica easily.

There are several self assessments you can perform to help identify which specific muscle imbalances you have and these are covered in our Lose the Back Pain Video along with step-by-step instructions on what to do to eliminate your imbalances and pain. You can learn more by visiting http://www.losethebackpain.com

1. Pressure caused by shortening and tightening of the piriformis muscle. This is almost always due to months or years of muscle imbalances in the hip rotator muscles.

You might be interested to know that there is some controversy over exactly what is going wrong in this particular case. Some doctors will refer to it as a ruptured disc while others may refer to it as a torn disc or perhaps even disc disease. Regardless of what they are calling it, however, you are probably interested in what can be done in order to alleviate some of the symptoms that you are experiencing. Although this will have a lot to do with the different diagnosis that you get, there are some things that can be done in order to take some of the pressure off of the sciatic nerve.

The other way sciatic pain creeps into your life is due to your lifestyle and habits, and that is what we like to call the process. The process can be described as a prolonged onset of symptoms based on your everyday activities...

Sciatic pain comes about either due to a traumatic event, muscle imbalances, or a combination of both. The event scenario is most likely the catalyst for sudden onset of sciatic pain. So what happens... when there is undue stress on the Piriformis muscle that stress causes it to go into spasm and then you have pain due to the Piriformis muscle putting pressure on the sciatic nerve.

There are several types of physical therapy that you may have to go through in order to overcome the pain. Typically, this is accomplished through stretching and at times strengthening exercises that are done in the presence of a qualified physical therapist. There are also some specific exercises that you may be able to do at home in order to help speed along your recovery process.

If this is the path you have been down and you're tired of all the worthless treatments that just don't work, you must read this article! I guarantee you, it will likely be far different than what you have read or heard anywhere else!

Something that is seldom taught by structural practitioners. Why? Your sciatica would disappear and not return. Leaving your therapist without a patient to treat for the next few years or longer. The big problem is most practitioners will not even assess this joint as being a problem in sciatica.

The Sacro-Iliac joint is not a normal joint; the sacrum itself is affected by your occiput (the back of your skull). Both of these joints move in tandem when you breathe. If this mechanism tightens then your entire spine will stiffen and especially the Sacro-iliac joints. Your meninges (the sheath covering your spinal cord) attaches into the base of your skull, has a minor attachment in the spine between your shoulder blades, and then again at the base of the spine at the sacrum/coccyx.

2. Pressure caused by spinal stenosis, which is a decrease in the space between the vertebrae. This is primarily caused by uneven pressure and compression due to muscle imbalances.

In most cases, people go to physical therapy or minimize their physical activity to break the pain - spasm cycle and in most cases your symptoms subside. However...the event will also set you up for a life time of sciatic pain if the Piriformis muscle does not recover 100% in both strength and flexibility.

The main problem is these joints become habitually tight - as you cannot rest them as they are used almost constantly. To change these joints you need to target them at home each day and train them to work better. Treatment by a practitioner will help, but the breaking of habits requires daily, at home, techniques to train these joints to function correctly.

These are just two examples of how muscle imbalances can affect the Piriformis muscle and cause Sciatic pain. You may not be a runner or cyclist but I'll bet you have muscle imbalances that are causing your sciatic pain!

The sciatic nerve is the largest nerve that exists in the body. Starting in the lower back, it runs through the area of the buttox and then down into the legs. Since it is such a large nerve and covers a lot of ground inside of your body, there are a lot of opportunities for things to go wrong with it. Typically, the pain will occur because of problems that are experienced in the lower back. If this nerve is pinched or irritated in some way, perhaps through a herniated disc, the pain may be localized or it may even travel down into your legs. In order for you to get rid of the pain that you are experiencing, you need to remove the pressure from the sciatic nerve.

If you are not sure which one of the four is causing your sciatic pain, I recommend you start with the basics. Most cases of sciatic pain are caused by muscle imbalances so if you begin to work on correcting any muscle imbalances you have, you should start to see improvement right away.

To learn more about muscle imbalances and how they affect your body, please read our article "Aches, Pains, and Injuries" which you can find on our website here: http://www.losethebackpain.com/achesandpainsarticle.html

Find out what's causing your sciatic pain and learn exactly which exercises and stretches you should be doing by watching our Lose the Back Pain Video. Order your copy now online at http://www.losethebackpain.com

One last point, sciaitic pain is not caused by a lack of prescription medications so don't think that taking some anti-inflammatories or muscle relaxants will fix it... it won't! Also, many people are able to eliminate sciatic pain within days just by performing a few exercises and stretches... but not general exercise... the exact corrective exercises and stretches they need to do.

Is your sciatica pain common to herniated disc? If so, how do you get pain relief now? There certainly are a lot of different things that can go wrong with our backs. One of the worst problems that we can have, however, is if we have a herniated disc, especially if it is irritating the sciatic nerve. A herniated disc occurs whenever the padding that exists between the individual vertebrae begins to break down and eventually ruptures or protrudes. This can cause enough pain on its own but there are times whenever the bulging material will press against the sciatic nerve, either pinching it or irritating it in some way or another. This can cause a lot of suffering for the individual that has these kinds of problems.

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Verona Raymond gets effective results when dealing with herniated disc and sciatica pain. Learn her secret to eliminate herniated disc pain entirely and get her special Back Pain Bonus Report to discover how you can find immediate relief. To receive your own free back pain bonus report, visit: http://www.herniated-disc-treatment.com

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Your Sacro-Iliac Joint. The joint that attaches your sacrum (the wedge shaped bone at the base of your spine) to your pelvis. This joint is one of the main gravitational joints, meaning - all the weight of your body goes through these joints.

However in sciatica the key is to make sure your Sacro-Iliac joints are moving correctly. Fail to do this and your sciatica may very well become chronic. Something you can avoid easily by learning simple ways to get this joint moving now!

When you have an injury to a muscle, both strength and flexibility are compromised, and if your recovery ends before strength and flexibility return, you will never be 100% and will likely struggle with the problem forever.

Recovery Tip: In severe cases, the sciatic pain can run from the top of the hip to the bottom of the foot. It is very important to recognize that changes and shifting of pain is often times a sign of improvement. Further more as a way of gauging recovery, take note of how far down the leg the pain goes. If the pain goes to the foot one day and then only makes it to the calf and then to the knee and then it can only make it to the hamstring that is a sign of improvement. You should feel good about those noticeable improvements and this should give you encouragement to keep working toward a full remission of pain.

Sciatica and Piriformis Syndrome are the same condition... it is just that the medical community is starting to call the condition by the muscle (Piriformis) that is involved and getting away from calling it by the name of the nerve that is involved (sciatic) nothing more than semantics.

2. Another example is runners and bikers who actually work very hard tend to get sciatica because they fail to keep a strength vs. stretch balance in their workouts. Hence the imbalance creates a greater pull toward external rotation and the result is a tight Piriformis and an irritated sciatic nerve creating pain.

For you to beat sciatica and remain pain free you need to address this joint. You need to relax the tight muscles around your lower back and pelvis, improve the nerve and blood supply to the weaker muscles, improve joint function in your lower back and balance the pelvis.

4. Pressure caused by a herniated or bulging disc. A herniation is when a disc protrudes out from between the vertebrae and this can either be caused by an event like a car accident, or, by months or years of uneven pressure due to muscle imbalances. It is also important to note that many people with herniated discs don't even experience pain or symptoms, and many don't know they have the condition.

The medical term for sciatica is a radiculopathy, which means that a spinal disc has extended beyond its normal position and is irritating the radicular nerve (nerve root) in the lower back, which connects with the sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve branches off as it travels down the lower extremity through the back of the leg, and thus pain can be experienced along this route. Even though it may seem counterintuitive, healing sciatica pain through exercise is better than bed rest. Resting for a day or two after the patients sciatica flares up is acceptable, but inactivity after this time will usually make the pain worse. Your back muscles and spinal structure become deconditioned without exercise and movement and are less able to support the back. Leading to strain and further back injury this deconditioning and weakening is the most common reason for additional back pain. If you want to have healthy spinal discs you need to make sure that you are exercising. Nutrients and fluids are exchange within discs through movement and help to keep them healthy. The focus of most sciatica exercises are on strengthening the back and abdominal muscles to provide more strength and support for your back. If you have muscles that cause pain when they are tight and inflexible, stretching exercises for sciatica targeted muscles is recommended. When you partake in stretching and strengthening exercises, the average patient will recover more quickly from a sciatica episode and prevent future flare ups of the pain. Because sciatic pain is not caused by the same ailments, specific sciatica exercises are recommended depending on the cause of the pain. Its just like bringing your car into the mechanic, if the muffler is the problem then rotating the wheels will most likely not fix the problem. A certified athletic trainer, physical therapist, chiropractor or or spine specialist who deals with back and leg pain associated with sciatica may recommend a treatment program with exercise being a part of it. Making sure you are properly diagnosed before starting a specific sciatica exercise program is important because, while it is rare, sciatica pain can be cause by serious medical conditions such as a tumor or infection that require prompt medical attention. I was going to list an assortment of exercises that one could do but I don't think with what I have said in my above statement that this would be a good idea. Self diagnosis can often lead to further injury so I stick to what I wrote and recommend that before you start specific sciatica exercises you should consult one of the above recommended specialists and discuss a treatment plan with a professional.

3. Pressure caused by Isthmic spondylolisthesis which is simply when a vertebrae slips or moves... this can sometimes pinch the sciatic nerve but often times people who have this condition don't have any pain, symptoms, or even know they have it!

However, from a technical stand point the process really describes the development of the muscle imbalance in your hip. The Piriformis muscle is responsible for external rotation (moving your leg so your feet point outward). So over time that muscle gets tight from the positions you put your self in and weakens from lack of use.

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If you're reading this article, it's a good bet that you have a radiating pain running down the back of your leg that just won't go away. If what I'm about to tell you sounds familiar, don't worry, help is on the way.

As you can see, there is a trend here... in nearly every case, muscle imbalances are the primary cause of the pressure being placed on the sciatic nerve.

If this Sacro-Occipital mechanism tightens, so do the meninges. This can lead to aches and pains throughout the spine. The tightness is greatest in the lower back and leads to sciatica.

Let me give you some examples of what I mean: 1. If you sit on the edge of your chair with you legs separated and your feet pointing outward you are keeping your Piriformis muscle in a shortened position and that's how it gets tight and with extended sitting in that position, it gets weak form lack of use. Hence the imbalance.

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First, let me tell you why today's traditional treatment methods just flat out miss the boat. The medical community is so conditioned and focused on treating only the symptoms and trying to get in as many patients a day as possible, that many people are misdiagnosed and/or mistreated.

Sciatic pain is simply caused by pressure being placed on the sciatic nerve and there are primarily four things that can create this... you may have one or more of the following:

One thing that you may be told to do is to use hot and cold treatments on this area of your back. This is a very common thing whenever it comes to herniated discs and they can actually help to ease some of the pain by reducing swelling. In the case of sciatica pain and a herniated disc, however, more may be needed in order for you to totally overcome the problem.

It is a joint that is seldom checked and often forgotten about by most practitioners, and rarely treated. Most at home exercises fail to target this joint in sciatica conditions. However if this joint is not corrected effectively, sciatica will commonly become chronic.

Learn More about Natural Sciatica Back Pain Treatments

Sciatica is a condition in which one tends to experience pain in their lower back region and the surrounding areas such as buttocks, legs, feet etc. This condition is mainly caused due to compression and irritation caused in the sciatic nerve, or the nerve roots that combine together to generate the sciatic nerve. In addition to the severe pain, one also experiences weakness in the muscles, sense...

Does this scenario sound familiar?
You bend over to pick a Kleenex off the floor. Your back locks up. You begin to experience lower back pain radiating into the buttocks and down the leg. You consult with your doctor who orders an MRI. The MRI report identifies a herniated disc.
Bad news?
Maybe but in all likelihood, it s not as bad as you may think.
You may have heard people...

A lot of people don t understand what sciatica means. You can t really call it an ailment or disease, not even a diagnosis could tell you the cause of the pain. It s more like a set of symptoms.
In most cases, the name sciatica is used when you have nuisances in the nerves area of the lower spinal chord or in cases of irregular compression. There are a number of conditions that can cause...

Ask anyone living with sciatic pain what that means and you ll receive different answers. For some it means a few days each year with some mild discomfort, for others it means a life of chronic and often excruciating pain.
For the majority Living With Sciatic Pain often means:
A life of pain relievers - anti-inflammatory medications, over the counter pain medications and prescription...

Sciatica is a condition in which pain shoots down an leg or arm as a result of a pinched nerve. Pain that runs along the course of the sciatic nerve is referred to by laypersons as sciatica. It especially appears in the back of the thigh also causing pain in the lower back, buttocks, hips, and/or adjacent parts. Sciatica is pain caused by general compression and/or irritation of one of five nerve...